Buying wardrobe staples now and keeping them for years is something that we believe in wholeheartedly at Joanie, which is why all of the dungaree styles that we design are made with a hint of stretch for comfort and to ensure that you get the most wear out of them!

Sure, there were plenty of highly feminine girls’ fashions—the Gunne Sax dresses and lacy Lanz nightgowns of my childhood heart’s desire—but many of us wore outfits like those of the “Freaky Friday” girls. Lots of boys had bowl haircuts; girls had Dorothy Hamill haircuts. Turns out, they were the same haircut! And there you have it – the decade that fashion forgot, but we were happy in our scooter bubble wearing (mainly) comfortable, practical attire. It's impossible to mention great dungaree look without mentioning Dexys Midnight Runners. Taking inspiration from the working class of Ireland they described their style as an, ‘off the farm look.’ Layered with knitwearand belted at the waist, the ‘farm look’ can be pretty cool.

Popular This Week

Over time, the name dungaree began to refer more to the style of overalls than the fabric itself. The first reference to dungarees as an item of clothing rather than a fabric is in a short story from 1891 by poet and author Rudyard Kipling, who was born in Mumbai and spent a lot of his life in India under colonial rule. The dungaree was first brought to light in 17 th century India where the cloth used for making cheap, robust working clothes was called ‘Dungri,’ the Hindi name of the Indian village which produced this hardwearing fabric. By default when the English bought the cloth to make workwear trousers they took the name ‘Dungri’ and added a British twist naming the fabric, ‘dungaree. ‘ And of course there were the famous LEGO tomboy ads, which were the brainchild of one of advertising’s rare female creative directors, Judy Lotas. In the 1980 movie “Little Darlings,” tomboy icon Kristy McNichol and her love interest Matt Dillon wear the same T-shirts and jeans and even have the same feathered, shoulder-length hair. Tomboys were common, in life and in the media. Then again, Mattel’s 1970s line the Honey Hill Bunch was a racially diverse group of girl cloth dolls, most of whom were wearing pants and had accessories ranging from guitars to purses.

In the photo below, Rich has painted band names onto his jeans with bleach! He’s also wearing the classic 80s Alien helmet. Dungri cloth was often dyed an indigo-blue colour, and though some sources cite this as an early version of denim, the method of production and qualities of the fabric mean that it wouldn’t look like the denim that we wear today!In America in the 1890s, Levi Strauss invented the first pair of denim overalls, intended to be worn as protective workwear. This style was similar to the dungri workwear worn by Indian farm and ship workers, but made from a more robust denim earning the brand the tagline ‘never rip, never tear.’

My male schoolmates began wearing Sta-Prest trousers (often taken in by their mum, or me, to turn them from a slim leg into a super-skinny fit), coupled with a Fred Perry shirt or jumper and topped with a boating blazer, Harrington or parka. They’d wear desert boots or Jam shoes, often bought from Shelleys in Carnaby Street. The dungaree started to transcend the realms of manual labour when they were worn by Hollywood royalty, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and even Judy Garland, turning the overall into a desirable garment. As we often didn’t have waterproofs, on a wet rally we would improvise with bin liners! The photo below was taken at Great Yarmouth in 1984, where our tent flooded and we had the prospect of a 200 mile ride home in pouring rain. I think the expression on Sarah’s face says it all!

The psychobilly culture also spawned a t-shirt industry, particularly featuring bands such as King Kurt, The Meteors and The Cramps. They would often be cut down, removing the sleeves and side seams. They are tried and tested – it is a look many women have reached for in the past. Throughout the 1980s, the decade when she had both sons, Diana, Princess of Wales was pictured in yellow ones, blue ones and aspirationally clean white ones. Raybould was “initially inspired by some jumpsuits my mum lent me that she wore in the 80s when she was pregnant”. Mair adds some context: “In the late 70s/80s dungarees were associated with the ‘mother earth’ style of fashion, self-sufficiency and growing your own.” Maybe that could go for babies as well as marrows. Toys followed the same pattern. Less than 2 percent of the toys in those catalogs were marketed to a specific gender in the seventies. There were lots of toy ads showing girls as doctors and pilots (though not with boys as ballet dancers and nurses). Science- and domestic-themed toys were sold in many colors, with images of boys and girls in ads working and playing together. Today, so much of childhood is divided into pink and blue; there are even “girl” LEGO Friends and “boy” LEGO helicopter sets. So why were so many girls dressed like boys, and encouraged to play with and like them, when I was a kid? Why were the 1970s a tomboy heyday? Dungarees were the uniform of 17th century sailors and other manual workers due to their utilitarian design and durable denim material. Throughout the 20th century, the overalls became a retro fashion statement.

Indeed. Trying dungarees again, I was wary of looking like an ancient toddler and relieved to find these new styles have definitely been designed for grown-ups. Take one of the versions from H&M. Made of leather with harem pants and shiny metal loops on the ankle, it's definitely not for kids. ­Oasis's denim Garnet emerges as the clear winner though – the higher waist makes them far more flattering than traditional dungarees. As a style that has well and truly stood the test of time, we think that dungarees make a great addition to anyone’s wardrobe. They’re so easy to dress up or down, and it is this versatility that makes them ideal for transeasonal dressing - pair them with your favourite vintage tee in the warmer months, or layer over a chunky jumper when it’s colder outside! During the First and Second World Wars dungarees started to transition into a unisex item of clothing as more and more women began working in factories to aid the war effort. By the late 1940s, dungarees were beginning to be considered a fashionable item rather than just workwear, with stars like Judy Garland even sporting them on the silver screen! Dungarees as Fashionable ItemsA lot of my mates from the Midhurst Detours would also wear kilts over army greens or bondage trousers, an overhang from the punk era.